


Sweet

by jenni3penny



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22512691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenni3penny/pseuds/jenni3penny
Summary: A little gender bend on a familiar trope while we wait to find out about Sloane's 'Secret Admirer', requested by Coolbyrne.
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 31
Kudos: 142





	Sweet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coolbyrne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbyrne/gifts).



It had bothered him all day, not knowing who had left it sitting on the corner of his desk. And he'd absolutely _left it sitting there_ , primarily because he didn't know where it had come from, or why. Who it had come from…

_Jesus… Paranoid much, Jethro?_

"I have no idea. It was here before I was." McGee's hand lifted, waving toward the highly offensive muffin that was the object of Gibbs' singular glare. He didn't think he'd said anything aloud but Tim was pretty intuitive, just as he'd been taught.

Gibbs had sent the team home and Tim had been the last to go, shouldering his bag as they both studied the unmoving, unthreatening, completely innocent object.

"Want me to send it down to Kasie?" There was just enough tease in his voice that Gibbs half smirked in answer as he shook his head.

"Naw," he murmured. "Have a good night, Tim."

"Night, Boss."

***

The problem was that the muffin was gone and there was a chocolate chip cookie the size of his damn hand in its place.

Every one of his agents went through some variation of " _Wasn't me_ " until he rolled his eyes and grabbed the wrapped sweet off his desk.

He never even made it to his seat, already heading for the stairs as his team watched him go, two looking confused and one grinning like a lunatic.

***

"Is this you?" he demanded, blowing into her office and pushing the door back with his right hand.

She tried not to laugh when he lifted an over-sized chocolate chip cookie like it was evidence in one of his cases, a forefinger and thumb pinching into the edge. He looked so adorably confused, utterly confounded.

"Well, I _am_ a treat," she teased before she shook her head in a negative, watching his shoulders slump.

He seemed to suddenly deflate, blue eyes swamping closer toward gray as his brows pinched in. "You're not leaving me… things?"

" _Things_? No, I haven't left you anything." Jack grinned, leaning back in her seat as he dropped the cookie onto her desk. She noted how familiar it looked, the wrapping specific to the pastry shop a couple blocks away. "Seems you have a secret admirer, Gibbs."

He grumbled a little, making a grunt of a noise in his throat as he sank deeper into the chair and glared at the cookie. "Rather it was you."

She looked up brightly, a full smile crashing over her lips before she could stop herself. Her eyes slimmed as she studied how embarrassed and uncomfortable he was. " _Really_?"

Instead of answering vocally he blinked, left shoulder rising as he set this elbow to the arm of the chair and his cheek to his closed fist. It was so impish, so sweet - especially when he half smirked, too. His eyes went softer, breathing slower as he sighed out, the long exhale shifting his shoulders down and more relaxed.

"Enlightening, as usual," Jack murmured playfully, nodding at his prolonged silence as she reached for the cookie and spun it around. "It's from Roman's. Their pastries are _the_ best. What else did you get?"

"Yesterday was a muffin."

" _Awww_ ," she sighed out, watching him as he stood again and came half around the desk. She rose to meet him, although she wasn't entirely sure why. Suddenly self conscious of the movement, she shifted to half sit against the edge of the desk, eyes going back to the dessert. "I'd love one of their muffins. Oooh, or a red velvet cupcake."

His hand reached out and blocked her from picking up the present substitute, fingers brushing her wrist in soft restraint. "Don't eat that. You don't know where it came from."

"I just told you where it came from." She sassed back, slapping her fingers against him. "Are you _really_ that paranoid?"

"Just leave it alone and I'll buy you a muffin," Gibbs said through a frown, glaring at the cookie while his long fingers curled her bicep, pulling her playfully away from it and up off her desk. He smelled good, early in the work day, before the scent of his aftershave had drifted off. She breathed in his unguarded nearness, enjoyed it for how simple but intimate it was as he tugged at her.

"Just like that, eh?" Jack beamed up at him, her smile lifted high with a tilt of her jaw and widened brown eyes. It certainly hadn't gone unnoticed that when someone else had been leaving him treats he'd wished it had been her instead. "What will your secret admirer think?"

She hated how easily he could spark hope up in her, just by being his usual grumpy protective self. She hated how easily she continuously fell for him, over and over again.

Gibbs just snorted, tucking her closer as he nodded his agreement. "Let's go."

***

"His head is just going to explode when he sees this," Ellie offered as she turned her head, leaning back in her desk chair to study the unopened coffee canister that had taken over his desk the next morning. "That thing is huge."

"I didn't even know they made five pounders," Tim added from his corner, his face rounded with surprise. The dainty pink cupcake that had been decoratively wrapped with a heart covered bow was barely visible beside the five pound canister of ground coffee. None of them had yet had the guts to read the folded piece of paper taped to the top.

"Listen, I'll take the credit for the baked goods but _that_?" Nick waved toward it, a distasteful frown on his face. "That was not me."

"It was you?!"

"They needed a nudge and I got one of the night guys to help me out." His voice had gone proud, full of humor as Ellie shook her head, lips pursed together. " _What_? It's working isn't it?!"

"Shouldn't you be?" They all jumped in unison, his usual stealth arrival perking them up and drawing their attention as he moved toward his desk. " _Working_ , I mean."

Ellie looked from the coffee cup in his hand to the large coffee container on his desk and bit down against her bottom lip. All three of them watched as he slowed in front of the desk, jaw cocked and up. His empty hand plucked the paper up and unfolded it, ignoring the rest of them as he breathed out a half laugh.

She shot Tim and the Torres a wide eyed look, both of the men looking absolutely befuddled as Gibbs tucked the note into his coat pocket and then turned away from his desk.

She was absolutely positive he was going up the stairs and toward Sloane's office.

And when he turned toward the elevator she realized that she was _absolutely_ wrong.

***

She didn't look up at first, didn't give him the satisfaction of instantly acknowledging his presence in her doorway - even if the thump that accompanied him did give curiosity a tug at the sleeve. She already knew he was a tall drink of Charming, she didn't need to see it to believe it.

"I appreciate you signing your name to it."

She had known that he wouldn't address it first thing but even eleven in the morning was still sooner than she had expected and she simply _could not_ keep from grinning in response to his praise.

Jack reached for her coffee, wishing it wasn't half cold but appreciating having the appropriate prop at hand as she finally sank back and met his smile. "I figured you were more likely to use it if it was hermetically sealed, _freak_."

"It's not always paranoia, y'know?"

"Sometimes they're actually out to get you?" she responded, pushing herself back so she could stand and investigate the unevenly lumped bag he'd dropped just against her open door. " _What_ is that?"

"Ten pounds of sugar." Any other man in the building would have chosen that moment to sweeten her up by way of a grin but he stayed utterly aloof. He didn't give an inch as she stepped closer and bent slightly, fingers brushing the bag as she let off a laugh through her nose.

Smartass. Jackass. Wiseass. _All_ ass.

"I see that. I mean - "

"Just…" Blue eyes finally softened as she stood completely, rising to meet his glance and more clearly hear his lowered tone. "Figured you'd need at least that much for five pounds of coffee."

" _Cute_ ," she admitted honestly, letting him see just how smitten she was by the odd but fitting and funny gesture. His side smirk went wilder than she expected and it was suddenly boyish and sweet and she watched him shrug one shoulder up, almost sheepish. "Gonna tell me who's been sending you baked goods?"

Gibbs shot her a perturbed look, annoyance suddenly flashing across his features before he let his eyes linger downward. His glance was treading down the buttons of her shirt and to the long golden chain she'd added last minute that morning. If anything, it was doing one hundred and ten percent of its job, keeping his eyes down the front of her a beat longer than would have been acceptable if he were _anyone_ else.

"No? Not gonna tell me?" Jack asked softly, brow arched as he blinked back up, near embarrassed.

"My bet's Torres."

"Oh, _sure_ ," Jack agreed gamely, as though his younger agent was the obvious choice and _why hadn't she thought of that_? "He got a crush?"

"Can't mind his own business," he responded, gruff but still quiet. "Wanna come by for coffee tonight?"

She shrugged but nodded, feeling her glance go gentler, lashes dipping in a reflex response to the way he kept looking at her mouth. Jack forced herself to inhale fully, almost feeling him do the same in an unconscious mirroring.

She pointed downward toward the bag, dragging at his attention to try and salvage any scrap of resolve she had left. If he didn't stop looking at her mouth she was going to pin him to the damn door. "Wanna drag that home with you?"

Another smile twitched over his lips as he nodded and when he leaned in she was surprised by how quickly she reflexively lifted her jaw. His kiss leaned just to the side of her mouth, making her breath catch as his lips brushed her skin with heat. "I'll pick ya both up later."

It took a stunned-still moment to draw the breath back into her lungs as he moved away, fingers sliding off his jacket when she hadn't even realized that she'd caught the hem of it. "Gibbs?"

"Yeah?"

Jack let her shoulder lean into the doorframe where his body had been, her hand reaching across her stomach, drawing his attention. "You tell Torres to stand down or I will, huh?"

His nod was faux thoughtful and he looked back up. He curbed his smile and waved between them, one more look running the length of her before he entirely turned down the hall. "I'll pass it along."

***

He felt the older man's presence but didn't give in to the urge to turn, half out of sheer stubbornness and half just knowing better. Nick swallowed and kept his back straight, feeling the senior agent's proximity just by the sudden tightness at the back of his neck.

When a full hand clamped over his left shoulder he just bit down, pressing his lips tightly together and watching Ellie's face go stark still and pale across the bullpen. She made a worried face, eyes widening.

All the sound in the squad room seemed to hum down as Gibbs leaned even closer in behind him and set the same pretty pink cupcake from earlier to his desk. The grip on his shoulder went firmer, more pressure nearly slanting his posture.

The older man leaned in, his murmur quiet but absolutely clear. "Sloane says to _knock it off_."

Nick grinned without realizing it, shutting the smile down as soon as he felt long fingers squeeze. "Yes, sir."

Well… _Mission accomplished_.


End file.
